teacher of the year award at

Mitchell Community School,

Who’s Who’s Award, and

Positive Educator award. Ms.

Taylor says, “I love teaching

at Forest Park. The students

are awesome and they care

about their schoolwork. Their

parents get involved in a good

way, and encourage the kids

to do better. The community

is also involved which is awe-

some.”

Ms. Taylor has accomplished

many different tasks through-

out her time here at Forest

Park to better the students’

education. Many people are

grateful for her efforts and

dedication. Next time you see

this inspiring teacher, give her

a big thanks!

Teacher’s Spotlight

Brittney Buechler

This month’s featured teacher

is Tammy Taylor. She is well

known by the students that

enjoy art, but some students

may have not had her since

that’s what all of her classes

are centered around. Ms.

Taylor has a bachelor’s de-

gree in art education and a

master’s degree in secondary

education. She is highly re-

spected by her art students

because they have seen her

amazing work with art skills.

When one asks for Ms. Tay-

lor's help, they will have to be

okay with her telling them the

truth about their project. She

is known to be blunt and hon-

est; she is only trying to help

you improve. Her favorite

class to teach out of all her

classes is Visual Communica-

tions. This class is for stu-

dents wanting to help produce

Forest Park’s yearbook. Ms.

Taylor teaches 8th through

12th grade. She teaches all

high school art classes, intro

to 3-D, advanced 3-D, year-

book, intro 2-D, advanced 2-

D, photography, ceramics,

painting, and drawing.

In high school, Ms. Taylor

was a big into athletics. In

basketball her team made it to

semi-state. They were the

first girl team to win a basket-

ball sectional. They won

three sectionals total. Ms.

Taylor made the game win-

ning shot in the 1983 section-

al game against Southridge.

She also succeeded in volley-

ball and got a scholarship to

Brescia University. She end-

ed up going to Brescia as an

undergrad and transferred to

Indiana University to gradu-

ate.

After graduating, she worked

her first year at Mayfield

Community Schools teaching

7-12 grade art in Kentucky.

Her second year she taught K-

8 art at Hancock County in

Kentucky. Her third through

seventh year she taught at

Mitchell High for 9-12 art.

Her eighth through twentieth

year teaching, she taught and

is still teaching 7-12 art at

Forest Park. Between all

those years she has won 1998

Teacher’s Spotlight

By: Brittney Buechler

January 2013

The Lookout

Inside this issue:

Mystery Baby 2

Basketball Review 3

Featured Car 4

Book Review 5

Teacher Spotlight 6

Girls Basketball

Review

7

Elected Official

Questions

8

IU Soccer 9

Christmas Tree

Lighting

10

Featured Athlete 11

Hostess 12

Movie Review 13

Doomsday Preppers 14

Kristkindlmarkt 15

Music Review 16

BCS 17

Game Review 18

Santa Clause 19

Senior Favorites 20

Weather 21

Holiday Ball 22

How to Prepare for

Finals

23

Fiscal Cliff 24

Heisman 25

Everybody knows that

when a Holiday World commercial

comes up on you televisions set you

are going to see Pat and Dan Koch.

That isn’t the case anymore; due

reasons that I cannot disclose due to

management and the organization.

The new President or CEO of Holi-

day World and Splashing Safari is a

man named Matt Eckert who gradu-

ated from Crawford County High

School and then later went to col-

lege at Indiana State University

where he got a business degree in

Accounting, which sadly he was not

taught by Mr. Durlauf.

Matt started working at Holiday

world in the year 2000 to be the

park controller and then in 2007 to

2012 Matt was named one of the

managers of the park. Twelve years

later after he started working for the

theme park constantly named the

friendliest and cleanest park in the

United States and even the world

Matt Eckert is handed the job.

Who Matt is taking over for is a

man well known at the theme park

was Dan Koch, who took over

when his brother Will passed away

back in 2010; Dan had plenty of

great ideas for the theme park but

he soon decided to go back to Flori-

da to work at his law firm full time

and leave Holiday World in the past

but it will always be on his mind.

What Matt plans to do at Holiday

World is going to be the same as

before, do your job to the best of

your ability and nobody will have

to stop you from doing it. Holiday

World also has in stock of new

rides and attractions to the theme

park; something new that is going

to be added to the theme park is a

ride called the Hyena Falls similar

to the Zinga ride and also the Otto

Ron Go water slide, the longest

slide of the new ride is 350 feet

and includes a half-pipe. With this

added attraction Matt the fellow

workers hope that this will bring

families and children to the family

friendly park that everyone loves

to go to.

With the added fire power to the

management to Holiday World the

upcoming season looks to be a

blast and they are not looking

back, hoping to get more people

than ever and happier smiling fac-

es working for them.

Holiday World New Management

By: Kyle Lubbehusen

Page 2

January 2013

This month’s mystery

baby was born on December 24

in Huntingburg, and has brown

hair and brown eyes. They have

1 brother and 1 sister, which are

both older than him/her. He/

She lives in Ferdinand, and is a

senior at Forest Park. At Forest

Park he/she played soccer for 4

years. They also are really

close to the freshman English

teacher, Sara Pund, who she

could tell anything to. In gen-

eral, her favorite teacher is Karl

Hinson because of his humor in

class. He/She has attended Fer-

dinand Elementary, as well as

Cedar Crest Intermediate. He/

She participates in SADD, Re-

naissance, Student Council, Key

Club, and RFC. He/She

babysits after school for his/her

job.

This person’s couldn’t

decide what their favorite movie

was, but the top 2 were newly

released, Pitch Perfect and

Sweet Home Alabama, as his/ her

favorite love movie. Their favorite

book is One Tuesday Morning by

Karen Kingsbury. His/her favorite

TV show is Pretty Little Liars,

which is aired on Tuesdays at eight

o’clock, on ABC family. He/She

likes to hang out with friends; four

wheeling, hunting, and listening to

music in his/her spare time. He/

She drives a silver Malibu, which

he/she calls Mali. This person’s

favorite subject in school is Visual

Communication class, and he/she

loves the color blue.

He/She loves to eat at

O’Charlies, where he/she is not

picky and will eat anything. Their

favorite part about O’Charlies is

the scrumptious rolls. His/Her

likes to eat shrimp from Red Lob-

ster, and they enjoy drinking sweet

tea from McDonald’s. At school

this person melts her Fudge Round

in the microwave every day. They

enjoy listening to country music,

which he/she has many favorite

artist but if he/she had to choose it

would be Luke Bryan. His/her

favorite store is Charlotte Russe.

He/She loves food, so obviously

his/her favorite holiday is Thanks-

giving.

His/her brother would

always bribe this person with can-

dy, while pulling a sled off the

deck. This person would always

complain about her butt hurting

afterwards, but candy would be

worth it for him/her. He/She never

ended up getting candy, but she

continued to allow her brother to

pull her off the deck, onto the con-

crete sidewalk.

They are excited to get

away from high school and all the

pointless drama, but he/she doesn’t

want to leave her friends, memo-

ries, and the small school behind.

He/She is attending the University

of Southern Indiana for Occupa-

tional Therapy.

Mystery Baby

By: Madison Grundhoefer

Page 3

The Lookout

This week’s fea-

tured vehicular device is owned

by the man named Kyle

Lubbehusen. It is one of the

big, red trucks here at Forest

Park High School. As Lubbs,

Kyle Lubbehusen, quoted, “If

your truck isn’t red, then it isn’t

a truck.” I agree with Lubbs on

this one. Like my grand pappy

always says,” Trucks are like

species of birds – the Cardinals

are the most beautiful. Now

we’re cooking with baby oil!”

The Silverado is big but in

comparison to Tyler Recker’s

truck, it is not that much small-

er. Kyle’s truck is wide, long,

but isn’t an extended cab.

There are three seats to haul

your best friends around. The

year of this model is 2007. It

looks brand new and is very

sleek. I fortunately have had

the privilege of riding in this

bucking bronco many times.

Before I had my license Kyle

would drive my sister and I to

school every morning. The elec-

trical inputs installed in this

truck make it compatible with

almost any device through the

right cable. Clear and smooth

are the speakers within this

truck. Unusually, this red vehi-

cle can spontaneously occur

messy. This doesn’t matter be-

cause it never smells bad due to

the refreshing aroma of the car

freshener. Pretty much every-

thing on this truck hasn’t been

changed. Kyle must have decid-

ed to keep everything stock on

this automobile. The windows

are unfortunately not powered,

so you have to do work to crank

the window where you want

them to be. Sadly, this Chevy

has been in a total of two

wrecks. One of these wrecks

happened to be run into by a

classmate. The other one, this

truck backed into a classmate’s

car. There was no

damage done thankfully. Detailed and

thick describes the body of this truck.

Here and there, you can see certain

parts chromed. On the seats you can

find unique seat covers. They are red to

match the color of the truck. Its detail

is very unique with a V of red and sides

of black. The inside looks nice and

clean, matching the spiffiness of the

outside. You will never see this truck

out in the field or on a dirt road because

it’s only two wheel drive. It’s just not

safe but keeps the truck looking brand

new. This automatic vehicle may be a

work truck but looks better in a race.

Overall, this truck always looks good in

the Forest Park parking lot.

Featured Car

By: Cody Temple

Page 4

January 2013

Black House, the follow up

book to the Talisman co-authored by

Stephen King and Peter Straub, is

about a former Los Angeles homicide

detective Jack Sawyer, now living in

French Landing. He is called on by

the local police chief to help find a

murderer dubbed the Fisherman. Can

Jack help the police force solve a

string of gruesome murders that has

struck the region? Although Jack can-

not remember the events twenty years

ago, in the first book, that led him to a

parallel universe to save his dying

mother. He senses an otherworldly

force behind the killings and it results

with him being drawn back into the

Territories and his forgotten past. Jack

must now defeat the ferocious evils

sheltered inside a terrifying house at

the end of a deserted tract of forest that

tries to stay hidden from everybody’s

eyes. In my opinion the book was one

of the better books that I have read in

my career of reading. It presented a

strong story line that kept my attention

throughout and I wanted to keep read-

ing to discover what would be the next

actin the hero would take in order to

defeat the evil forces. The characters

were portrayed in a way that they were

easy to relate to. I became attached to

the main characters and the challenges

he faced. Jack Sawyer’s ability to

travel between the two universes is

written so that it is believable, if not

possible. His chase of the cannibalistic

Fisherman kept me interested and at

edge to find out if he would be in

time to save the life of the young

child, Tyler Marshall, that the Fish-

erman had kidnapped. Tyler was

not the first child kidnapped by the

Fisherman, he had previously kid-

napped three others including a one

Irma Frenue who he left in an aban-

doned diner with bits of flesh miss-

ing where he had eaten off of her.

The reason the fisherman took Tyler

Marshall is that he is the most pow-

erful breaker to be born ever. The

breakers are psychic individuals that

are taken from their normal lives by

a dark entity to take down a barrier

supporting all the universes connect-

ed. Like many of his books, Black

House ties into the dark tower series.

It references Roland’s journey to

end the red king’s evil influence on his world

and his ka-tet’s endeavor against evil. If you

enjoy Stephen King's books and story-telling

methods, then this book is right up your alley.

Book Review: Black House

By: Aaron Schuler

Page 5

The Lookout

The girls’ basketball team

has undergone a several

games so far and they are

beginning to reach the mid-

dle of their season. Starting

at their game against Gibson

Southern they sadly lost to.

After that game the girls

kind of went into a mid-

season slump and lost to

Tecumseh and Heritage

Hills. Heritage Hills was a

close yet heart breaking

game but coming out on the

wrong side short of only one

point. The girls began to

then pick up their season

with two wins against Ev-

ansville Central and Craw-

ford County. Two days after

the girls win against Craw-

ford County they played one

of Forest Park’s biggest ri-

valries, the Northeast Du-

bois Jeeps. The girls played

their hearts out but sadly

fell short a few points in

overtime.

Normally the girls would

have a tourney at Eastern

Greene over break, the Toby

Yoho Classic, but was can-

celled due to weather prob-

lems. Although the tourney

was cancelled they played

one game against Eastern

Greene on Wednesday Jan-

uary 2. The girls beat them

by almost a solid 10 points

with the final score coming

out to be 37-28. Lydia Lange

leading their team with 15

points, also registering in

her career-high so far.

The next opponent the girls

competed against was The

Pike Central Chargers com-

ing out with another win 72

-49. Kylie Blessinger led

her team with a high 22

points. The next team the

girls faced was Corydon

Central and didn’t come

out with the win. The girls

played a little slow and lost

57-33. Following with get-

ting into a little more of a

slump the girls then played

against Barr Reeve. The

girls lost 45-30. I inter-

viewed Kylie Blessinger,

one of the senior leaders on

the team, and asked her

what the problem was. Ky-

lie stated, “I think we are

just going through bit of a

rough patch right now. We

are still working hard and

hope to solve out these dif-

ferences by the end of the

season entering sectional.”

The girls finally got a win

off of South Spencer, beat-

ing them by 66-39. Kylie

Blessinger led with 13

points, followed by another

senior leader, Amanda Ja-

cob, with 12 points. The next

competitor for the girls was

Wood Memorial and they got

away with another win. With

these games, the girls brought

their season back to an even

record. Come support the

girls in their next few games,

or at sectional!

Girls Basketball Review

By: Katie Fischer

Page 6

January 2013

Forest Park has many stu-

dents that go through their

time at this school over-

looked. Some of these stu-

dents are the backbone to

why our school is so great.

One of these students that

goes through school not re-

ceiving the attention that he

is much deserved, is Wyatt

Kieffner. Wyatt is big into

engineering and is a crucial

part of the Forest Park Tech-

nology Club. He knows how

to work a computer, and can

do so better than many peo-

ple that

work with

computers

for a profession. Any prob-

lems or questions that people

have about software or com-

puters, if gone to him, Wyatt

would most likely have an

answer. He is a wiz with al-

most any kind of technology

and has even created his own

website that keeps people up

to date with and lets them

discuss many different Poké-

mon topics. All of this com-

ing from a 17 year-old boy is

pretty amazing. If you would

like to check out his website,

the URL is

pokemondungeon.net.

Pokemon is a series is written by

Hidenori Kusaka and illustrated

by Mato for the first 9 volumes.

When Mato became ill and was

unable to continue illustrating

the series, Satoshi Yamamoto

took over as the illustrator and

still continues as the series' art-

ist. There are many different

Pokemon “adventures”. These

“adventures include, Red, Blue

& Green, Yellow, Gold, Silver

& Crystal, Ruby & Sapphire,

FireRed & LeafGreen, Emerald,

Diamond & Pearl, Platinum,

HeartGold & SoulSilver, Black

& White, Black 2 & White 2.

The games, movies, books, and

the T.V. shows have all got very

good reviews and have given the

producers a very nice income.

Wyatt is the leader of our

schools nanoline team. For the

past few months, he and his

fellow nanoline team mem-

bers have spent an abundant

amount of hours working on

their project. The nanoline

team has been working on a

very important project lately,

though I am

not allowed to tell you what

this classified project is.

He has long, flowing black

hair that makes hides his

face most of the time. Its

looks like a black mop was

glued to the top of his head.

Wyatt is very tall and may

be the funniest person you

will ever meet. This man is

very smart and can be qual-

ified as a genius. He might

as well be a teacher here at

Forest Park. If you haven’t

talked to Wyatt before, you

should do it now!

Featured Student: Wyatt Kieffner

By: Alec Hassfurther

Page 7

The Lookout

Homecoming is an annual

event at Forest Park for both football

and basketball. It is that time of the

year when our school votes for the

best candidates to represent their

grade. Some people vote for the most

popular students, while others just do

not care and just circle a random

name. Representing the freshman

grade is Bailey Schultz and Peyton

Lubbehusen. The couple looked very

exquisite while she rocked the yellow

dress and he pulled off the yellow.

The sophomore class is led by Bailey

Hoffman and alongside him is

Heather Buechler. The two of them

looked rather stunning while matching

in a beautiful pink. The junior class

chose Reece Heilers and Tori Lange.

What can I say? I was astounded by

the purple dress and purple tie. They

two colors blended perfectly to show

that they put in effort to finding an

exact match. Finally, the several sen-

iors picked to show off the soon to be

graduated students are as follows:

Mady Grundhoefer (who wore a brilliant

purple dress that made her eyes pop), Ni-

cole Weyer (who wore excellent

blue attire), Libby Gress (who

knew how to show her impressive

outfit off), Jaylyn Miller (who had

a remarkable black and white

wardrobe that made all others jeal-

ous), T.J. Bieker (rocked his bois-

terous shirt and tie), Kyle

Schlachter (who needed to repre-

sent the basketball team he is on,

so he had to wear his warm up),

Ben Kitten (who made his role

look easy by looking as if he were

a piece of pie), and Trent Weyer

(the last of the guys and one of the

four great men). Although the sen-

iors are soon to leave, they have

many plans to look forward too.

All four of the senior men are plan-

ning to go to college, graduate, and

get a well-paying job. Three of the

four senior women are planning to do the exact

same things as the guys do. One of them, Libby

Gress, is unsure of her plans after she graduates

from this school. You may be wondering who

won the homecoming king and queen. The

whole high school votes for who they think is

the most deserving of the title homecoming

king and homecoming queen. After two weeks

of anticipation, I correctly guessed who would

win the crown. The winners of the homecoming

honor were Madison rose Grundhoefer and T.J.

Bieker. Congratulations you two!

Page 8

January 2013

Homecoming

By: Alex Russell

The Forest

park Ranger wrestling team is

off to a rough start due to the

lack of wrestlers. This year’s

numbers on the wrestling team

are very low, but the players

are still working hard to

achieve team goals and individ-

ual goals. Working hard day in

and day out has been an aspect

for Ranger wrestling Coach

Craig Recker. The heaviest

weight class that is filled on

this year’s squad is 152. This

weight class is occupied by

junior Tyler Recker, who is

wrestling up a class due to fill

more positions. Coach Recker

has limited wrestlers so at the

beginning of the year he was

scratching his head looking for

options. This year’s 2012-2013

wrestling team is working very

hard and being productive for

many matches this year. Even

though the team is not com-

pletely filled out and team wins

are hard to come by, individual

results have

been outstand-

ing. Senior

Keith Hurst has

been showing

leadership by

example this year. Keith

Hurst has been working hard

and winning matches all year.

Junior Cody Flamion has also

been impressive in his tech-

nique and winning matches

too. He wrestles in the 120

weight class and has been

showing good strength all

year. Freshman Josh Thomas

wrestles in the 103 weight

class. For being a young

wrestle with little varsity ex-

perience, Josh Thomas has

shown good skill for helping

the team accomplish goals and

even reaching his own indi-

vidual goals. Winston Glenn

and Colton Glenn are very

being productive on the mats

this year. Coach Recker is

very impressed with the Glenn

brothers and their production

on the mats this year. They

have been showing good

strength and enthusiasm

throughout the whole season.

The Glenn brothers are also in

very good shape so they wear

down their opponents. Leigh-

ton Fleck is back again for his

third year of varsity experience

and didn’t lose anything from

last year’s good season.

Since the

numbers are down this year for

Forest park wrestling, the team

has rallied together to make this

a successful season. They have

been doing very well individu-

ally and even challenging teams

to win matches. The highest

weight class filled on this year’s

team is 152, which limits the

chances of the wrestling team

winning many matches. Coach

Recker is very proud of his kids

participating in wrestling this

year and wants them to keep on

working to strive to advance

individually in the tournament.

Ranger Wrestling

By: Lance Buechler

Page 9

January 2013

Aries (March 20 - April 19): Unfor-

tunately, you will take a trip the

school urinary facilities in hope of

relieving yourself but will soon find

out that it is out of order and is in-

capable of flushing. The stall will

also be out of toilet paper.

Taurus (April 20 - May 19): If you

gain that needed confidence, you

will soon find out that it was all

worth it in the long run. Don’t get

too full of yourself though. It’s

your lucky day mate! A large

amount of money will be found in

an unexpected place.

Gemini (May 20 - June 20): You

will encounter some bad fast food.

Make sure you know what to do

when the time arrives. Some of

those workers don’t like their job,

and they want to take their disad-

vantage out on a customer.

Cancer (June 21 - July 21): It’s time

to shine! Trust your instincts! You

can do anything you set your heart

and mind to!

Leo (July 22 - Aug. 22): You’ve lost an

important item or person; however,

don’t let that obstacle step in your way.

Move on with your life, and this item/

person will show up when the time

comes.

Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sept. 21): Your leader-

ship abilities will pay off. Just believe in

yourself and the team, and you will see

multiple victories in your future.

Libra (Sept. 22 - Oct. 22): A huge sur-

prise is headed in you direction; howev-

er, may be bigger than you expect. Em-

brace the experience. This opportunity

is limited.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21): Don’t let

people boss you around. Stand up for

yourself, and this will take you to great

places.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21): You’ve

been wanting to get in shape for months

now! Get off the couch, and actually

perform! Start off with a light workout,

and advance every day.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19): Some bad

weather is coming your way, and it’s

bringing bad luck with it. The roads are slip-

pery. Travel with extreme caution!

Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 17): You should

probably start on something new today.

You’ve been procrastinating for weeks. Let’s

be honest.

Pisces (Feb. 18 - Mar. 19): You are needed

more than you think. Set your mind, engage

yourself, and blast off!

2013 Horoscope

By: Bryce Bettag

Page 10

January 2013

Across the United States

and other places around

the world flowers, candies,

and other gifts are ex-

changed between love

birds. On February 14th,

this year for Valentine’s

Day trying to decide what

to get the guy or girl you

love can get difficult. Eve-

ry year a girl expects to get

the usual present, like

flowers, a box of choco-

lates, a stuffed animal

from their boyfriend or

even the next step in their

relationship, a diamond

engagement ring. A boy

on the other hand, usually

expects to get a “dent in

their bank account” be-

cause Valentine’s Day is

typically a girl’s holiday.

Why is it a girl’s holiday?

Because the girl is the one

who expects to get a sur-

prise or a romantic date

with her boyfriend; the

boy, on the other, hand

doesn’t get the pleasure of

just buying a gift, and in-

stead he have to plan a

special night for him and

his girlfriend.

However, Valentine’s Day

is not just a holiday for

couples. It is also a holi-

day for people who want to make

the person they dream about like

them back. For secret admires

trying to hide the fact that they

like someone dearly can be a cute

little challenge. Trying to find

out what the girl or guy you are

crushing on likes, make sure

people do not find out who your

crush is, a hard task that is if you

haven’t told anyone yet, and the

word hasn’t gotten out.

Valentine’s Day can be the worst

holiday for some people because

they are single and have no one

to feel loved by. On Valentine’s

Day, girls feel like they need to

have a guy and if they don’t for

one day they feel as if they will be

“forever alone” for the rest of

their life. However, Valentine’s

Day is just a day that girls get to

feel extra special for having a

boyfriend, even if the guy hates

everything about Valentine’s

Day. Ways to cope with being

single on Valentine’s Day include

buying your own chocolate or

flowers and acting like it’s from a

secret admirer and telling all

your friends about how someone

totally hot is crushing on you but

you don’t know who. Or coping

by flirting with every single guy

you know even if you would nev-

er date or talk to them on any

other day.

On this Valentine’s Day,

whether you are in a relation-

ship, crushing on someone, or

coping with being single, I

hope all these tips help you

have a fantastic February 14th.

Valentine’s Day

Keisha Jackson

Page 11

January 2013

On Friday, December 14, 2012,

Adam Lanza entered Sandy

Hook elementary school with a

Bushmaster XM-15 rifle, 10mm

Glock 20 SF handgun, and a

9mm SIG Sauer handgun. Lan-

za took the life of 26 people at

Sandy Hook Elementary and

then took his own life. Presi-

dent Obama gave a televised

address explaining that some-

thing must be done to stop trag-

edies like these from happening.

President Obama and Congress

have spent many hours since

this tragedy trying to come up

with gun restrictions that will

cut down massacres like this.

The Federal Assault Weapons

Ban, from 1994 to 2004, that

prohibited civilian use of many

semi-automatic firearms, or

“assault weapons.” Many peo-

ple believe that this ban should

be reenacted, but no bill has

been signed to put this into ac-

tion. Recently, Barack Obama

proposed a few laws that are

putting people in the States on

edge. Obama is pressing Con-

gress to pass universal back-

ground checks on gun buyers

and to set bans on military-style

assault weapons and high-

capacity ammunition clips.

Many people, including those

involved in the NRA (National

Rifle Association), are arguing

with the president by saying this

is a violation of their Second

Amendment rights. Obama also

urged Congress to reenact the

Federal Assault Ban in addition

to the other proposals.

President Obama also

wants to make a strong

point to make all schools

a safer environment. He

wants to ensure that stu-

dents feel safe and that

parents trust that their

children are safe. As well

as this, Obama wants to

make access to mental

health services easier and

more available. The pres-

ident feels that being

mentally healthy plays a

large part in curbing gun

violence as well. Many

say that seeking mental

help seems embarrassing

and difficult for many

people who seek violence

instead. By making these

mental facilities more

accessible, he hopes to

cut down on the number

of people who feel as

though violence is not a

big deal.

No

law has been set in stone yet, but

the government has high hopes

of putting these proposals into

action as soon as possible. Since

the Connecticut shooting, there

have been hundreds of threats

and violent attempts in schools

throughout the states. President

Obama hopes that by enacting a

law such as the ones proposed he

can cut down on this and make

our schools safer.

Gun Laws

By: Kylie Blessinger

Page 12

January 2013

Once again the dancers have

hit the once polished gym

floor in Buechler Arena.

With the coach that has took

them to state seven times

each with different routines,

Denise Heilers. For a couple

of home Boys basketball

games the dance team has

performed their famous kick

routine that has won them

numerous state champion-

ships and just recently the

dance team preformed the

pom routine that has also

brought them a state title in

the past years. The dance

team looks fired up and very

ready for this season and

have new surprises for rou-

tines this season the past

Boys Basketball game

against South Spencer the

new dance routine was very

new and very well prepared

for the occasion. The girls

are very ready to defend their

state title from last year with

a high quality kick routine

that includes a high quality

pinwheel that makes the en-

tire dance team into motion

and then dazzling us all with

the knowledge that the seven

time state dance coach has.

The dancers also take action

at the local retirement home

whenever the head coach

says that the home is open,

also they like dance at the

local Christmas tree lighting

that took place in December.

They once again preformed

the county and high school

favorite, the Kick routine.

Even outside in the freez-

ing cold the dancers pre-

vailed showing that they

can even dance outside and

be amazing at the same

time. Another thing that

the dancers have done was

help the one and only Santa

Clause by asking the kids

what they wanted to get for

Christmas and giving them

a candy cane for being a

well behaved young boy or

girl.

Some upcoming competi-

tions for the dancers are at

Bloomington South on the

27th of January, where they

hope to win with flying

colors with the many rou-

tines that they have ac-

quired. With another sur-

prise the dancers also get to

dance at a University of Ev-

ansville Men’s basketball

game during halftime which

is such a fantastic honor for

these young girls, since they

also got to dance at a Pacers

basketball game in the past

years of the dance team.

With all the upcoming events

and talents being shown at all

the basketball games the

dancers are off to a fast paced

start and hopefully with more

surprises in store for us to see

at the next upcoming basket-

ball game.

Dance Review January

By: Kyle Lubbehusen

Page 13

January 2013

Tom Anderson might be feeling

a little left out right now. Crea-

tor of MySpace, this man has

made tens of millions of dollars

from the company, but hasn’t

had as good as luck with the

website as he used to. Although

he left the company in 2009, he

is still known as “MySpace

Tom”. In June 2009, Myspace

employed approximately 1,600

workers. Since then the compa-

ny has undergone several

rounds of layoffs and by June

2011, Myspace had reduced its

staff to around 200. In June

2011, Specific Media Group

and Justin Timberlake jointly

purchased the company for ap-

proximately $35 million dollars.

MySpace is definitely a thing of

the past. Most of the people

that used MySpace conveyed to

Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg is the creator

of Facebook. As of September

2012, Facebook has over one

billion active users. The web-

site's membership was initially

limited by the founders to Har-

vard students, but was expanded

to other colleges in the Boston

area, the Ivy League, and Stan-

ford University. It gradually

added support for students at

numerous other universities

before opening to high school

students, and eventually to

anyone aged 13 and over. A

January 2009 study ranked

Facebook as the most used

social networking service by

worldwide monthly active

users. Entertainment Weekly

included the site on its end-of-

the-decade "best-of" list, say-

ing, "How on earth did we

stalk our exes, remember our

co-workers' birthdays, bug our

friends, and play a rousing

game of Scrabulous before

Facebook?" Even with all of

these Facebook users, Twitter

is quickly picking up popular-

ity.

Twitter was created in March

2006 by Jack Dorsey. The

service swiftly gained world-

wide popularity, with over

500 million registered users as

of 2012, generating over 340

million tweets daily and han-

dling over 1.6 billion search

queries per day. Since its

launch, Twitter has become

one of the ten most visited

websites on the Internet, and

has been described as "the

SMS of the Internet.” With

all of these different social

media sites, everyone can be

easily entertained and con-

nected with people all around the

world.

From MySpace, to Facebook,

and now to Twitter, you can see

that social media is constantly

changing and improving ways to

keep everyone linked together.

Each site has seen its fame, but

you have to wonder what site is

coming next. What new and

exciting ways to keep us all con-

nected will come next? I guess

we will just have to wait and see.

Social Media

By: Brittney Buechler

Page 14

January 2013

I found myself think-

ing of Earth and the animals that

inhabit it. Then, I narrowed the

subject down to endangered

animals on Earth. Finally, I

thought it would be interesting

to get a visual of all the endan-

gered animals in Indiana, and

soon discovered that there is a

vast number of endangered spe-

cies just in Dubois County!

They range all the way from

microscopic crustaceans in the

water to birds in the sky. Here

in this article, I will explain

some of these major endangered

animal species, and inform you

on what you can do to aid these

specific animals.

Dubois County is

home to the Indiana Crayfish. It

belongs in the crustacean cate-

gory. The population is usually

visible in shallow water with

small gravel bits. Threats to

the crayfish include habitat

alterations such as gravel re-

moval and the damming of

flowing waters. The Western

Sand Darter, the Spotted Dart-

er, and the Tippecanoe Darter

are the names of the few fish

that are on the verge of extinc-

tion. Most people would guess

that this is caused by overfish-

ing for the darters; however,

pollution in the rivers is the

major issue.

Traveling from the

water to the land, Dubois

County is also home to a few

species of endangered snakes:

the Western Cottonmouth, the

Copperbelly Water Snake, and

the Rough Green Snake.

Western Cottonmouths re-

quire a warm habitat that in-

cludes slow-moving water

such as

ponds,

ditches,

lakes,

and

swamps. Copperbellies live in

lowland swamps or other warm,

quiet waters. Finally, the Rough

Greens tend to live in sunny are-

as with low bushes and dense

vegetation near water. This is a

very common snake around here,

and I am sure you have seen it

roaming around in your back-

yard. I’m surprised that this spe-

cies is even endangered.

There is also a vast

number of endangered bird spe-

cies in Dubois County, 15 to be

exact. A few examples of these

include the King Rail, the Barn

Owl, and the Hooded Warbler.

The Northern River Otter is sup-

posedly the only mammal that is

close to endangerment. I have

never seen an otter in Dubois

County. This playful otter spends

its time both on land and in wa-

ter. It makes its home in a bur-

row near the water's edge, and

can thrive in rivers, lakes, or

swamps.

A Variety of Endangered Animal Species…In

Dubois County

By: Bryce Bettag

Page 15

January 2013

Which fast-food

sandwich do you think has

more fat and calories, a

McDonald’s Big Mac or

Wendy’s Asiago Ranch

Chicken Club? If you said

Big Mac, you would be

wrong by nearly 10 grams of

fat and almost 200 calories.

The Big Mac is still the

standard “fattest food” peo-

ple think, but it is nothing

compared to some of its

competitors. Since Ameri-

cans are demanding more

and bigger portions of food,

packed with as many top-

pings as possible, fast-food

chains have been more than

happy to rise to the occasion.

In the 1960s the concept of a

burger with 93 grams of fat

and 1,300 calories was not

heard of (original McDon-

ald’s hamburgers only con-

tain 9 grams of fat and 250

calories), but that’s exactly

what’s on offer at Hardee’s,

by way of their Monster

Thickburger. If you had told

someone 30 years ago that a

salad could contain more

than 40 grams of fat they

would have laughed at you,

but that was long before Ta-

co Bell introduced their Fies-

ta Taco Salad with beef.

While burgers tend to get

most of the attention when it

comes to calorie overload,

there are plenty of unhealthy

items on menus at the fast-

food chain near you, espe-

cially breakfast items. Like

McDonald’s breakfast, for

example, puts in just as

many calories and fat as a

Big Mac. It might be hard

to determine what fast food

items are most fattening,

there are some, however,

are common sense. If some

food item has more than

one meat, like the Meat

Lover’s for example, is a

sure sign of a calorie over-

load. In other words, the

more ingredients put into

the food, the more un-

healthy it is. The top 5 un-

healthiest fast food sand-

wiches are as followed: 5)

Baconator from Wendy’s

Fat: 63 grams Calories: 970

Sodium: 2,020 milligrams

4) Double Whopper with

Cheese Burger King Fat:

65 grams Calories: 990

Sodium: 1,480 milligrams 3)

¾ lb. Triple from Wendy’s

Fat: 67 grams Calories: 1,060

Sodium: 2,020 milligrams 2)

Triple Whopper with Cheese

from Burger King Fat: 82

grams Calories: 1,230 Sodi-

um: 1,550 milligrams and the

fattest fast food sandwich in

America is the Monster

Thickburger from Hardee’s

Fat: 93 grams Calories: 1,300

Sodium: 2,860 milligrams.

America needs to learn to

watch what they eat, cause if

we don’t, we will become the

fattest country in the world.

Unhealthiest Fast Foods in America

By: Sam Russell

Page 16

January 2013

This month’s featured athlete

has shown leadership and

success on and off the court

and field all four years of

high school. Senior Kayla

Smith has dedicated her time

to being a student and an

athlete. Kayla is a guard on

the Lady Ranger basketball

team and a centerfielder on

the Lady Ranger softball

team. She also participated

in cross country as a junior

and was a cross country

manager as a senior. Not

only is Kayla involved in ath-

letics, but also in clubs and

the community as well. She

is an active member of

SADD, Renaissance, Beta,

RFC, Key Club, and Natural

Helpers. She was also

crowned first runner up in

the Hayesville “Miss Flame”

contest.

This season, Kayla is partici-

pating on the varsity team for

the third year. She shows

leadership on the court and

helps lead her team at all

times. Kayla hopes that as

the season ends, the Lady

Rangers can pull themselves

together as a team and strive

for another sectional victory.

Her favorite basketball

memory comes from her

sophomore year when she

and the rest of her team won

the sectional championship

against the Mater Dei Wild-

cats. Taking part in the

parade and pep session

after the big win was just a

cherry on top. Kayla also

agrees that winning a soft-

ball sectional, also sopho-

more year and also against

the Mater Dei Wildcats,

was another memory that

she will never forget. Alt-

hough her senior basketball

season is coming to a close,

Kayla agrees that she has

had a wonderful experience

as a Lady Ranger Basket-

ball player and has made

many unforgettable memo-

ries with her teammates.

A loyal basketball fan,

Kayla’s favorite sports team

has always been, and will

always be, the Indiana

Hoosiers. She is a diehard

men’s basketball fan and

follows each of their games.

She also enjoys watching

Sports Center and any col-

lege basketball games.

When asked who her sports

role model is, it took some

thought, but she chose

Brittney Griner because of

her dunking skills. But if

she could have dinner with

any athlete in the world, it

would have to be Cody

Zeller, because if he takes

her out to dinner, that makes

it a date.

Some other favorites of hers

are:

Color: Orange

Food: Anything edible

Restaurant: Long John Sil-

ver’s TV Show: Sports Cen-

ter

Movie: The Pink Panther and

the Pink Panther 2

Class: Lunch and Study Hall

Teacher: Mrs. Karrie Wolf

Outside of athletics, Kayla is

well liked by classmates. She

was voted “most likely to be

found in a tree stand” by her

senior classmates. After grad-

uation in May, she plans to

attend the University of

Southern Indiana to pursue a

career in nursing.

Featured Athlete: Kayla Smith

By: Kylie Blessinger

Page 17

January 2013

For older adults texting may be

a major deal to them, and that is

what they are getting used to;

while for teens or some younger

adults in their twenties an app

called Snapchat may be their

newest addition to their

smartphone. Snapchat is an app

that started in apple but now

android also has. This is a mo-

bile app that lets users share

images, and now videos, that

can disappear once viewed, for-

ever. The time on each “snap”

is ten seconds. You can set this

limit for any amount of seconds

below that though too.

Snapchat was released by a

Standford student and his busi-

ness partner. Snapchat has at-

tracted millions of users and is

now stating that they are pro-

cessing more than 30 million

messages daily. Bloggers state

that it disappears in the same

amount of time you read a

tweet, but they call it almost the

newer and faster Instagram.

Some were worried of maybe

inappropriate things being post-

ed or other things like that.

They know that no matter where

anything takes teens, via web,

they will do as they wish, but

Snapchat is merely for teenagers

and their “silliness”.

Facebook, the oldest of Snap-

chat, Instagram, and Twitter,

has decided to launch some-

thing similar to Snapchat and

take it to new heights. Face-

book came up with an app

called Facebook Poke. This is

almost an identical social app

compared to Snapchat. Both

apps have the same 10 second

rule.

Snapchat was voted 6th most

popular from free apps for

Apple Devices. The Face-

book Poke was not in the top

100 because people like Snap-

chat mostly because of the

reason being, it’s not Face-

book. Since Snapchat is also

available for Android

smartphones, it held at num-

ber 33. Facebook Poke isn’t

available for Android

smartphones, so that is anoth-

er fault.

Snapchat is the fastest way to

share a moment with your

friends. On the app, Snapchat, it

is possible for the person you are

sending your “snap” to for them

to take what is called a

‘screenshot’. This screenshot is

when they take a picture of the

picture you send them, with their

smartphone. This is rather diffi-

cult since there is only a max of

10 seconds for them to take the

picture. If you are worried about

people screenshotting your Snap-

chat all you have to do is sub-

tract seconds from it. Another

plus is it will let you know when

you have been screenshotted.

This new app has produced a

major buzz over smartphones

and so far has had a majority of

positive comments. If you have

a smartphone download this free

app!

Snapchat:

By: Katie Fischer

Page 18

January 2013

The Forest Park

Tech Club is participating

in the Phoenix Contact

Nanoline Competition.

The students involved are

six juniors. Madeline

Pelzel is the leader of the

group. She is the main

consultant on contacts and

staying organized. No

idea can be finalized un-

less Madeline agrees to it.

Justin Sitzman works

hands-on with the project.

He is very knowledgeable

about the actual engineer-

ing of the project. Blake

Altmann works with Jus-

tin, although Blake is the

leader of constructing the

project. Jason Brier is the

thinker of the group. He is

a very creative person, and

he has solutions to the

problems that they run

into. Josh Voegerl also

helps with the construc-

tion of prototypes and has

many design ideas. Wyatt

Kieffner is the writing spe-

cialist for the project, and

also contributes to pro-

jects ideas and problems.

The main goal consists of

harvesting wind energy

with previously loss of un-

obtainable energy at the

lowest possible amount

due to friction and poor

design. Forest Park is

doing this by wind units.

The main idea for Forest

Park is to get their idea

for mobile energy pro-

duction in a military set-

ting. This would create

clean energy worldwide.

The final goal is to create

an energy unit that is

fifty feet high and has

the compactness to fit

two or more unites on a

semi-trailer. This is a

quick and efficient way

to provide energy. This

would raise the stand-

ards for and soldiers in a

war zone. In addition, it

will provide easy trans-

portation and a quick

setup to receive electrici-

ty in any part of the

world in a clean, renewa-

ble way. When it is not a

windy day, the project

will be able to produce

more electricity than tur-

bines.

On top, sails are placed in

an octagonal pattern to

catch the wind. The sails

are placed between two

poles that jut from the

structure. These sails will

be operable through linear

actuators that will open

and close the sails con-

trolled by the wind. Mylar

is the material that used to

construct the sails. Mylar

is a flexible, durable mate-

rial. This flexibility has to

show in order to get the

sail to catch the wind. Du-

rability also is a huge fac-

tor, depending on the

weather conditions.

The Forest Park Tech Club

also participates in the WE

CARE. This stands for the

Worldwide External Com-

pact All-Inclusive Renewa-

ble Energy. Good luck to

the Tech Club!

Tech Club

By: Madison Grundhoefer

Page 19

January 2013

This year will be the last year

of football for the NFL super-

star Ray Lewis. Ray Lewis

was the first pick of his draft

class. He was chosen by the

Baltimore Ravens, where he

would become the most su-

perior middle linebacker in

the league. Lewis was a star

at the University of Miami

where he played college ball.

Ray Lewis did his best to be

known as a great athlete that

stayed away from drugs, ster-

oids, and tried to keep his

name out of the papers due

to bad things. When Ray was

in his 20’s, the Ravens went

to the Superbowl and after

the game he was present dur-

ing a fight that took place.

Two men were killed and

members of his entourage

were charged and acquitted

of the men's murders. This

led to suspicion that Ray

Lewis may have been con-

nected or a part of the mur-

der. After being found not

guilty, Lewis was let off the

hook.

Lewis quickly became the

face of the Baltimore Ravens,

and the stellar middle line-

backer will remain a beloved

figure in Charm City long

after he pulls off his number

52 jersey for the final time.

Lewis was elected to 13 Pro

Bowls, was twice named NFL

Defensive Player of the Year

and was Super Bowl MVP

after the 2000 season. But

nothing makes him proud-

er than saying that he

played 17 seasons, all with

Baltimore. According to

ESPN Stats & Information,

only four players in NFL

history have been to more

Pro Bowls than Lewis

(Bruce Matthews, 14; Jerry

Rice, 13; Reggie White, 13;

Tony Gonzalez, 13). Terrell

Suggs, Lewis’s teammate

was quoted saying, "It was

sad. It affected me, because

for the past 10 years of my

career, I've been sitting

right next to the man and

going to war on Sundays.

It's going to one hard last

ride, and we need to make

it one to remember."

Lewis had hinted at retire-

ment previously. He said

last summer that he could-

n't see himself playing past

age 37. Lewis turned 37 in

May. Lewis wants to spend

more time with his two

sons. While working to re-

turn from his injury, Lewis

watched them play on the

same high school football

team, and he intends to

watch Ray Lewis III per-

form as a freshman next year

for his alma mater, the Uni-

versity of Miami. Ray Lewis

will be remembered as one of

the top linebackers in NFL

history.

RAY LEWIS RETIRING

By: Alec Hassfurther

Page 20

January 2013

The future of the

world rests in our hands. We

may have the ability to pre-

dict it. Many predictions

have been made already.

Mainly, it is said that the

world will have half of its

natural resources left at the

most. How will the world

look when all the oil and gas

are gone? How about when

all trees are gone? How will

we survive without electrici-

ty and the things we take for

granted around the house? If

I were you, I would start

planning or getting things

prepared for our doomsday.

The life of the average

person would probably be

equal to the way of life for

the present-day person in

poverty. If the human nature

would be the opposite of

what it has become this pre-

sent day, we may be saved

from our doom. We are de-

stroying our planet and eve-

rything we need to survive

on it. In other terms, we ba-

sically are killing ourselves.

Our lives are in our own

hands. As a whole, we need

to start thinking about the

future. It is full of dark

things right now. Eventual-

ly, these dark occurrences

will lead to mass chaos.

How can we live with our-

selves? Bikes and other en-

vironmental friendly ways

of transportation should be

our first change to save the

future. This solves two

problems that include obe-

sity and total world de-

struction from air pollution,

and end of gas and oil.

There is a mass consump-

tion of gas and oil due to

the plentiful number of ve-

hicles in the world. It is

only one of many objects

that people use gas or oil.

Some examples are gas

grills, lawn mowers, or ap-

pliances in the average

household. After that is

fixed, we should start sav-

ing trees. Trees make

many objects we use today.

If we exchange trees for a

different object then the

world would be a better

place. There are many

more examples of these

problems that everyone

should know about or at

least be aware of. As soon

as everyone has the

knowledge that things we

take for granted are killing

this world of ours, people

will take action. Those

who are only about greed

and power will fall if the

people act up. We human

beings can only survive this

destructive future if we come

together and use our resources

the right way. Are you ready

to take the steps it requires to

save planet Earth?

The Future

By: Cody Tempel

Page 21

January 2013

As the winter season rolls

around, sickness will be in the

air. To prevent from getting

sick, good hygiene and proper

washing is very crucial. Door

knobs, ATM machines, key-

boards, toilets, trashcans, and

many other numerous things are

loaded with germs and diseases.

Germ-X can be a big help to

prevent germs when on the

move. Germ-X comes in differ-

ent sizes so it is convenient and

available for you at any time.

After you sneeze or touch some-

thing that many hands have

touched, you should either wash

your hands or use as hand sani-

tizer. If you do this, you will

give yourself a better chance of

staying healthy and not becom-

ing sick.

The 2013 winter sea-

son is at an extreme high this

year for sickness. As of January

11, 2013 18 children have died

in the United States due to flu

symptoms. Dr. Kevin Lusk, a

doctor here in Ferdinand, has

seen numerous of patients come

into his office having symptoms

of the flu. Many people are

making visits to their doctor due

to not wanting the flu to get too

serious within them.

To prevent from get-

ting deadly sick and feeling not

too well for a few days there are

few precautions you should

take. When around sick peo-

ple or people involved with

the flu, you should wear a

mask. A mask will prevent

you from breathing in bad air

and from touching your face.

The flu shot can help you pre-

vent from getting sick, which

is highly effective. You can

also prevent from getting sick

by not going to events that

many people will be at. The

more people at the event, the

more germs. Also, when

sneezing, cover your mouth

with not your hand, but your

arm.

Studies have shown

that the 2013 winter season

will be one of the worst sea-

sons for people getting sick.

There are many different

types of sicknesses you can

get, but some can be more

severe than others. People

around the country can be

infected by a deadly disease

and see their life coming to an

end. If you do not want this

to happen to you, stay caution

about what you touch, eat,

drink, feel, or even the places

you go. Anybody can get sick

at any time from just a small

virus that is inside them. So,

having said this, be sure to al-

ways wash your hands properly

and stay out of sick areas.

Avoiding Sickness

By: Lance Buechler

Page 22

January 2013

The ASVAB is a test

given by over 14,000 schools

in the US. Starting in 1968,

the ASVAB has a big role in

some students’ futures. It

stands for the Armed Ser-

vices Vocational Aptitude

Battery. The earliest you may

be able to take the test, is

when you are a sophomore in

high school. For those of you

who speak Spanish, there is

currently no version of the

ASVAB test that will be all

Spanish. Most people do not

study for the ASVAB but if

you would like to, you can go

on the internet to find some

nifty ways to study for the

test. If you would like to

score high on the test, study-

ing is a must and so is vital

concentration. The main

thing the test is used for is to

determine people’s strengths

and weaknesses. It covers

basic knowledge such as

math and verbal skills, writ-

ing skills, and vocabulary.

It is a required test for en-

trance into the military. The

AFQT is comprised of your

test results in Arithmetic

Reasoning, Math Knowledge,

and Verbal Composite. The

score is crucial to job place-

ment, so it is very important

to take this test seriously and

to focus on your strengths

when taking the exam. High-

er test scores often mean bet-

ter jobs, higher salary, and

more opportunities for ad-

vancement in the military.

The best thing about the

ASVAB is its flexibility. If

you cannot make it on a

certain test day, it is not

that big of a deal. There are

so many different places

and times to take the test.

The ASVAB tests you in the

following:

General Science-

Knowledge of general con-

cepts from life, earth, and

physical sciences

Arithmetic Reasoning- The

ability to answer word

problems that involve basic

arithmetic calculations

Word Knowledge- The abil-

ity to recognize synonyms

of words

Paragraph Comprehension-

The ability to answer ques-

tions based on short pas-

sages

Mathematics Knowledge-

Knowledge of math con-

cepts, including applied arith-

metic, algebra, and geometry

Electronics Information-

Knowledge of electronic prin-

ciples and terminology, and

basic electronic circuitry

Automotive and Shop Infor-

mation- Knowledge of auto-

mobiles, tools, and shop ter-

minology

Mechanical Comprehension-

Knowledge of basic mechani-

cal and physical principles

Assembling Objects- Each of

the 16 questions contain five

separate drawings that you

must make into a final draw-

ing

Verbal Expression is one of

the most important scores on

the test. This score is a combi-

nation of Paragraph compre-

hension and Word

Knowledge.

ASVAB

By:: Alexander Russell

Page 23

January 2013

As the year reaches

its end and the holidays grow

nearer, peoples’ moods are

shifting in the direction of

happiness. If they knew,

however, that right now in

the U.S. government, a deci-

sion has to be made on when

the terms of the Budget Con-

trol Act of 2011 are sched-

uled to go into effect. This

approaching enigma is called

the fiscal cliff. Last year’s

payroll tax cuts will increase

by two percent. The new tax

for president Obama’s health

care will also go into effect

on December 31st at the

strike of twelve increasing

the amount of tax each per-

son has to pay. There are

three courses of action that

United States lawmakers can

choose between. The first

just lets the new taxes take

effect raising the tax rates

and make spending cuts,

driving back the deficit but

possibly knocking us into

another recession. The sec-

ond course of action would

be to take the tax increases

and spending decreases and

ignoring them making them

invalid. With the absence of

a change to the current tax

policies, everyday life will be

the same as it was in 2012.

The final course would be

to compromise and take

some of the tax increases

and place them into effect.

The best choice would be

to take the compromise and

have some taxes increase to

reduce the deficit but not

hinder the buying rate of

the average United States

citizen because it would

cause a recession. Alt-

hough it is ideal, the odds

of a compromise are highly

unlikely. This is due to the

current political differences

in congress. The congres-

sional assembly is some-

what fifty-fifty making it

difficult to achieve any-

thing because when a vote

is called the parties tend to

stick together resulting in a

fifty-fifty tie. Left as is, the

deficit will drop an estimat-

ed $560 billion. Even

though there is a decrease

in deficit, an estimated two

million jobs would be lost.

The term “cliff” is used

because it means an imme-

diate decision ending in

two possible outcomes but

with a change to the bill that

congress is working on would

make it, instead of a “cliff”, a

gradual decline. The decline

would allow us to change our

spending habits at a rate par-

allel to the adjusting economy

to slowly become acclimated

to the new economy instead

of if the law would be left

unchanged giving us a sudden

decrease of spendable money

in our pockets.

Taxes

By: Aaron Schuler

Page 24

January 2013

As the end of college

football season neared, the

Heisman Trophy talk was bigger

than ever. Everyone has their

own opinion on what player they

thought should win, but in the

end, it was the writers who had

the last say in who took home

the trophy. Here is a list of the

top 3 candidates who were up

for the running, and what solidi-

fied them as a top runner for the

Heisman Trophy.

Johnny Manziel, a

freshman quarter-

back for Texas

A&M, made his

final case for the

Heisman Trophy

as Texas A&M

coasted by Mis-

souri, 59-29. He

was his usual pro-

ductive self, com-

pleting 32 of 44

passes for 372

yards and three

touchdowns while

running for 67

yards and two

scores. He became

the SEC's single-

season total-

yardage record

holder, surpassing

Cam Newton's

mark. On the regu-

lar season, Manziel

finished with 3419

yards, 24 TDs, 8

INTs, completing

68% of his passes,

rushing 1,181

yards, and scoring

19 touchdowns

on 6.4 yards per

carry.

Manti Te’o, a senior

linebacker for

Notre Dame,

made his final

statement as a

Heisman finalist

when Notre

Dame beat USC

22-13 and locked

up a trip to Mi-

ami and the BCS

National Cham-

pionship Game.

The linebacker

recorded his 7th

interception of

the season and

also secured his

third 100-tackle

season at Notre

Dame. On the

season, Te’o had

101 total tackles,

46 solo tackles, 2

sacks, and 7 in-

terceptions.

Collin Klein, a senior

quarterback for

Kansas State,

won't wow

Heisman voters,

but his senior

leadership stead-

ied Kansas State

in the second

half Saturday,

December 1 as the

Wildcats pulled

away from Texas

for a 42-24 win. In

the first half, he was

4-of-10 passing for

72 yards with an

interception, add-

ing 19 yards rush-

ing and a score. The

third quarter was

more like vintage

Klein, as he led two

TD drives. He

passed and ran for

scores in the fourth

quarter. On the

season, Klein threw

for 2,490 yards, 15

TDs, 7 INTs, ran for

890 yards, and 22

TDs.

Who took home the trophy?

No one knew until the

decision was made on

December 8, 2012. My

sources told me that as

of now, Johnny Manziel

was the front runner for

the trophy, but since he

was a freshman, Manti

Te’o will win since he is

a senior. It was a fight to

the finish, and Johnny

Manizel won the trophy

as a freshman. Congrat-

ulations!

The Heisman

By: Sam Russell

Page 25

January 2013

When most people think of

video gaming, the

games that come to

most people’s minds

are Call of Duty and

Halo because those two

are the most talked

about by people around

the school. However,

dance games show a

perfect example of vid-

eo games that can be

more active than those

that you require just

sitting around and hit-

ting buttons all day

with your thumbs. You

do not have to be a

skilled dancer to play

the Just Dance games,

you just have to be will-

ing to dance the moves

shown before you on

the screen, have some

fun, and embarrass

yourself in front of your

friends. If you are not

participating in the

game, I believe it is still

enjoyable to watch your

friends make complete

fools of themselves

with the dance moves.

Also, the songs have

the lyrics displayed on

the screen, so you can

sing along instead of

dancing to the song.

Like Just Dance, Just

Dance 2, and Just

Dance 3, Just Dance 4

has many hit songs

including popular and

newer songs. With

these songs, numer-

ous dance moves are

displayed on the

screen, and these are

what you have to

mimic to raise your

score higher than

your friends. Hit

songs that are fea-

tured on the new Just

Dance 4, “Call Me

Maybe,” by Carly Rea

Jepsen, “Moves Like

Jagger”by Maroon 5,

“Right Here, Right

Now” by Fatboy Slim,

and “Wild Wild

West” by Will Smith

are just four songs

out of the nineteen

tunes from all the

different genres. As

you hit each of the

dance moves, you are

rewarded points

based on your ac-

tions, which are

tracked by the Wii

remote. Each move is

scored as bad, OK,

good, or perfect. No

matter how many

points you rack up,

though, it's impossi-

ble to fail a song.

The Just Dance series has

never been a difficult

game to pick up and

perform. All you do

is pick out a song to

dance to, hold the Wii

remote in your domi-

nant hand, and imper-

sonate the arrange-

ments of the colorful

dancers on the screen.

Just Dance 4, the newest

Just Dance gam, was

released October 2,

2012. Critics have giv-

en Just Dance 4 a seven

out of ten rating. If you

are in the mood to do

some crazy dance moves

to some of your favorite

hit songs, grab some

friends, get Just Dance

4, and start having some

fun.

Just Dance 4

Keisha Jackson

Page 26

January 2013